"There is a special bond between twin soul mates - unconditional love, respect for each other, bringing out the best in each other, and highly compatible."

-Mettrie L.

(To dream or not to dream – What does your mind think? What does your heart feel? What does your voice say?...)

"...You might... want to put this on..."

Her ears twitched, rejoicing at the sound of his voice.

Smooth like a polished rock. Deep as his dark, dark eyes. The huskiness an added bonus to his physical appeal.

And the meaning of his awkward words slowly sunk into her head. Eyeing with confusion the garment he graciously held out to her, Hinata lowered her eyes to glance down at herself, now realizing the lack of clothes covering her body. Immediately, her face burned scarlet from pure embarrassment. Her arms instantly darted to fold across her chest.

"Pft." The corners of his mouth curled upwards, much resembling a smile of amusement. A hand flew to muffle the chuckles, which threatened to rip his mouth open. Her comical reaction was way too endearing... Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if he developed a crush on her right then and there. Hastily shoving the offered sweater over her head with fussy hands, she fingered the hem that reached half-way below her thighs, satisfied of the loose, comfortable fit clothing her upper body. It was better than nothing, by her standards.

"T-thank you..." she shyly murmured.

Her voice was like sweet honey to his ears, and he savored it.

Lyrical like a tinkling bell. Gentle as her soft, soft heart. The kindness second nature to her shy demeanor.

And he watched with fascination the way her small fingers fidgeted restlessly with the collar of his sweater, the way her round eyes darted nervously from left to right, the way her peach lips pursed pensively into a thin line. Everything about her was so delicate, so demure, so innocent, so... Indecisive.

Hinata debated within herself what she was supposed think. She shouldn't get too excited about meeting this boy for the first time, because he supposedly was just a dream her mind conjured up during sleep. However, her heart said otherwise. The boy from her dreams had to be real. Just had to be. He was kneeling right next to her, if that was any proof; staring at her as if she was his favorite piece of toy on the market. His smoldering gaze made her feel self-conscious.

"W-what... what's your name?"

He blinked, jerked out of his daydream. "Sasuke."

Sasuke.

Masculine, yet boyish.

She marveled at the uniqueness of his name, before he spoke again - dragging her mind back into orbit.

"I already know yours."

"Wha– r-really?" Sasuke frowned. His hearing was nothing, but acute and he didn't like the sound of suspicion leaking through the nervous tremors of her squeaky voice. Creeping her out wasn't his intention.

"Yeah... it randomly came to me." Sasuke paused, as if uncertain of whether or not his next words would either sound stupid or sensible. "Sometimes... I dream of... dreaming about you." He then took a deep breath to prepare himself - to tell Hinata her tale from his point of view. "When I close my eyes, I see you... living your daily life. I know your sister, Hanabi, and your older brother, Neji. They tend to fight a lot, and your mom and dad tries to stop them, but they never succeed. Whenever this happens, you hide in your room and pretend nothing is happening. And then, you think about me to forget about the angst ruining your life." Realizing how disturbingly animate he was, since Hinata was the first person he had ever talked to, his face paled with self-ridicule. Sasuke's voice took on a more tentative tone. "That's how you... get by sometimes..."

Now he felt extremely foolish. Who was he kidding? They had never met, until few moments ago, and yet he talked as if he knew her his whole life. If that wasn't freaky, Sasuke didn't know what was.

Hinata knew she should be rather suspicious of this boy, but oddly she smiled shyly in acceptance to his sketchy explanation. After seeing her reaction, Sasuke released a breath he wasn't aware of holding. Divine relief.

Next, he took the chance to sit down beside her, resting his flat palms on the dewy grass. Hinata pulled her legs up to her chest, wringing her arms around her knees to hold them. Few glances shared and quiet smiles exhanged; the two made themselves comfortable in each other's mutual, momentary silence.

"Your dad... he makes you unhappy, doesn't he?"

"Mmhmm... there's a lot of reasons, a-actually, but..." Not entirely sure how knowledgable Sasuke was about her life, Hinata still proceeded to pour out the inner demons terrorizing her heart. All this time, her emotions were bottled up inside, left alone to continue building by itself and she hated it. "I think the main reason is because of d-daddy. He always wanted me to be perfect. Perfect grades, perfect friends, perfect manners, perfect goals, perfect future... perfect everything. He tried molding me into perfection.

"...I-it took me a fairly long time to realize perfection did not exist. There's always something bound to be wrong, a-and yet... daddy constantly told me to act better, act different..." To pause something so emotional was painful for her, but she had to in order to wipe away those infuriating tears blurring her vision. A few sniffles resounded in the quietness, before Hinata carefully picked up from where she last left off. "My siblings aren't perfect either, and yet... he still treats them better than me.

"S-sorry, I spoke too much..." Hinata averted her gaze and fiddled with her hands nervously.

"I don't mind," he reassured, cocking his head to the side charmingly, "I like hearing you talk. It's... soothing." In actuality, it frustrated him to maintain a calm front, when hearing her pain and her qualms was intolerable. However, there was nothing Sasuke could do about Hinata's life. So he kept the sentimentality secret. The anger and the grief flaring in his eyes sizzled away, leaving only a liquid warmth to remain.

And Hinata watched all this transpire in his eyes with awe.

"What?"

"O-oh, I was thinking..." A slow smile crept onto her cheeks. "I like your eyes." Sasuke managed to mumble an awkward thanks, before Hinata pressed on. "I draw you all the time, but seeing you up close in person... it's different."

"You draw good, I hope," he joked, a ghost of a smirk swept across his face.

"I-I believe I do," Hinata restrained a laugh, because her embarassment permitted her to. "Except, I failed to capture the light in your eyes. I dreamt of you often, but never have I..."

"..."

"C-can I... touch you?"

"Sure."

The moment her fingertips curiously grazed his hair, Sasuke tilted his head and closed his eyes, relishing her heartfelt touch. His raven black hair felt cool and silky, yet crisp at the spiky ends. Hinata unintentionally inched closer to him, granting herself an intimate view of his serene face.

Seeing him right now, re-studying his elegant facial features in contrast to the sketches she drew of him... what a remarkable difference.

"Y-you're very..."

"What?" he asked softly, re-opening his eyes.

"...cute." Hinata couldn't believe she admitted that out loud. What was she thinking?!

"Thanks." His lips quirked, and he chuckled. "You're cute, too."

It was a curious thing to him, how bright her cheeks turned red from heated embarrassment. Sasuke wanted to know how it felt to be warm, to touch human flesh upon human flesh.

Hinata fidgeted from his sudden advancement when he knelt forward, soon laying his pale cheek against her own and Hinata emitted a harsh gasp at the feel of his fiercely cold skin. It rapidly numbed her cheek, like dry ice killing her blood cells and Hinata violently shivered from the unpleasant sensation.

"Y-you are s-so... c-c-cold..." she stuttered, her teeth violently clattering like a drilling machine striking against cement pavement.

"You're so hot..." he murmured, his voice a sensuous caress.

For Sasuke, it felt so utterly marvelous. Her heat was like an exquisite furnace. It slowly melted the invisible ice encoating his whole body, the warmth rapturing his heart.

Hinata chewed her bottom lip pensively to suppress the urge to shift away from him. But to estrange herself for her own benefit so she could no longer feel cold, that's not what Sasuke needed. What he needed was a friend to support him, to care for him because he had no one else. Convinced by this incentive, she reluctantly raised her arms to cradle his body. Either Sasuke's temperature was gradually increasing or she grudgingly became accustomed to the cold, Hinata didn't know, but all she cared for at the moment relied on Sasuke's comfort and stability - not her own. God knew how long this boy withstood the chilly loneliness and isolation by himself, with no companion whatsoever...

"Why are you cold and miserable, Sasuke?" she had to ask.

"...I don't know." It wasn't a complete lie. What came with the cold was inexplicable misery and loneliness, but what caused him to feel this way - he didn't know.

Eventually, the two sprawled out on the comfy grass side by side, facing each other - the sole contact between them their linked hands. With a gaze listless and melancholic, Sasuke traced her knuckles lightly with his thumb. He was unwilling to accept the truth; to accept the reality that she was real and he was not. They were bound to be separated, just because of this major difference.

"You have to go back home sometime, don't you?" Sasuke mumbled, dejection weighing his voice. He refused to close his eyes, because he didn't want to lose sight of her, if even for a second. He was dreading the moment when she would disappear and leave him... forever... "You can't be asleep forever."

"I try..." Hinata breathed shakily for a moment, "not to think about it." She was afraid to close her eyes completely, for fear of drifting off into sleep and waking up - not wanting to believe it was all merely a dream. "I just want to focus on the now, what's in front of me. That's all that matters to me at the moment." Surely, these feelings she held for the boy wasn't imaginary. Surely, he had to be more than just a dream of pure bliss. Surely, there existed an alternate version of Sasuke somewhere in her world.

It was possible. Anything was possible. She could only hope that's how it worked. She could only wish it was true.

"I... I swore to myself," Hinata murmured, gazing intently into his solemn eyes, reading the trepidation lurking behind them, "If I ever found someone I could put my complete faith in, I'd make him the happiest person alive. So... I don't think this is our last meeting together. We'll see each other again. I know it."

The only sign of trust she received from her friend was the hopeful light flickering in his charcoal eyes.

XOXO

"Hinata."

"Hm?"

"What would it be like... if we lived in the same world, and met each other for the first time?"

"We're friends now, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't finished. What if we weren't only friends, but lovers? And maybe got married, and built a family together. And nobody would be in pain. Everyone is happy."

"T-that's a big dream, Sasuke. It's... very nice."

"..."

"Sasuke...?"

"..."

"..."

"...I wouldn't mind, spending my life with you."

"Me, too."

(A/N): Sooooo sorry I couldn't post sooner! T-T I had most of it written out by December, but never got around to finishing it (until tonight which actually took half an hour. -.-')

I was planning to have some incestual themes in this story, but decided against it. I found out it would be too complex, the storyline I mean, and not many people would be so tolerant as to read incest. Instead, Soulmates is going to be a modern spin-off of Beauty and the Beast. Always wanted to write one of those... especially with SasuHina. X3 I'm kinda getting sick of seeing Romeo & Juliet stories... came across like four of those, lol.

And I have to give thanks to Sphyma for correcting my grammatical mistake in the last chapter. If you, my readers, notice something something wrong (like I made an error or something doesn't make sense) let me know. And I'll fix it.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.